Truth Number Nine:

We Grow Spiritually

In every hard circumstance of life, we should grow.  But, so many times the things we suffer seem to make us bitter instead of better.  This is not the Lord’s will.  The Lord has so mercifully kept His hand over my life.  When I counsel people today, I see all kinds of  bondage that has been formed in their beliefs - many times with the help of circumstances out of their control.  I know that in the experiences of my own life, God had me protected in the palm of His mighty hand.  That is not to say that I have never needed deliverance or healing for myself.  I have needed much healing over the years from the assaults of the enemy - the assault on my mind as well as the assaults of people coming in and out of my life.   Sometimes, it was a result of my own sin, walking in some places that I should not have.  As a result, I needed to repent before I could be set free from the resulting strongholds.   But He has been faithful to deliver me as I have enjoyed His presence, particularly the last 17 years.  In all my life's experiences, particularly those  involving near-death, He took away the sting, gave me understanding (as I patiently continued to seek after it) and helped me grow in character and maturity.

I think back to when I was eight and I had just returned from California, moving back home to Virginia.  I came back to the same town, the same school and the same friends.   We even bought a house just miles from where we had lived before.  I left Virginia as a pretty little girl with long brown hair.  I came back as a bald-headed child (because I refused to wear a wig) who looked terminally ill.  Not to mention the fact that I had no skull on the right side and I had to wear a crash helmet to school and almost everywhere.  (The right side of my skull was crushed beyond repair in the accident.  Head trauma produces a lot of brain swelling.  Plates cannot be placed in the head until the swelling goes down - hence the year without a skull or a plate).  I also had to have a bodyguard at school.  I lost my identity as I became known as the “the girl who got kicked.”  My mother was afraid to let me out of the house during the day.  I was a latch key kid and I couldn’t even go out and sit on the porch (even though I did sometimes).  But even through losing my identity and suffering rejection, the Lord BEGAN teaching me about how my identity was in Him.  I cannot tell you how He did it.  I just know He did.  Those circumstances pushed me closer to Him.  I was alone for so many hours, many times He the only One with whom I had conversation.  When my mom would finally get home and I could go outside, I would put on my helmet, jump on my bike and down the road I would fly.  I felt safe in the Father’s hand - probably due to how close He seemed to me.  Even though our church taught more about what we could not do than what we were supposed to be, through His nearness, God was training me up throughout those years.  By the time I was in High School, I was very solid in my stand for Christ.  Not popular at all, but the one to whom kids came when they were in trouble.

I could go on with story after story about what each experience did to help me grow spiritually.  I probably do not even fully realize all of what God has done to this day.  It really does not matter if I ever know until eternity. What I do know blows my mind already.  It is enough to know His hand has been on my life since birth.  With tears of joy, I can pray His Word in Ephesians 2:10 about my life:

For I am God’s workmanship [formed in the secret place and fashioned over time by the Potter’s hand], created IN CHRIST JESUS to do good works [and a specific work] which He prepared in advance for me [and has trained me all the days of my life] to do [in Him to the glory of God, my Father.]”